( March 13, 2014, Islamabad, Sri Lanka Guardian) “The town where I have been living with my family for the last fifty years is one of the most peaceful towns of Balochistan. My parents and my grand parents, all were born there and certainly all are buried there too. We have about hundred houses in our neighborhood and we all are very much close to one another. Some of our people are in the army and some in the local police; some of us are in government service and some are engaged in farming. During the last ten years we have so many times heard that the security forces and the intelligence agencies are kidnapping people and most of the kidnapped Balochis never come back to their homes; their dead bodies are found on deserted roads and streets; but to tell you the truth, it never happened in our town.” This statement of Mujahid Baloch, a middle-aged train-guard, was altogether unexpected to me; I knew he was a Baloch, a Baloch who practically resides in Balochistan and certainly has the first hand knowledge of the things. It was somewhere in the mid of June last year, I was traveling to Karachi by train. Mujahid Baloch, the conductor guard of the train seemed very strict and dutiful type of a person. He drew my attention when I found him snubbing a passenger who was traveling without ticket. The passenger claimed that he was a journalist, so he was entitled to travel without ticket.

The conductor guard said that he would simply made a call to the engine driver and ask him to stop the train at the nearest station if that passenger was not willing to buy ticket. At last that self-claimed journalist had to surrender. I appreciated the courage, determination and dutifulness of that conductor guard. He told me that he was a Baloch and a Baloch never surrenders if he is on right. For the next two hours we two had a very informative discussion on different topics particularly on the issue of the missing persons in Balochistan. I was expecting he would be very much aggressive and violent in his views but he was not. He simply concluded the discussion by saying, “Stop the interference of the foreign intelligence agencies in Balochistan, keep a vigilant guard on the boundaries and give the Baloch people all those facilities and human rights which people of other provinces are enjoying; the Balochis also belong to this land; don’t doubt their patriotism.”

Children outside their family tent on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province. (UN Photo by D.A. Khan)

Every Pakistani, including all those living in Balochistan, feels very much disturbed and dejected when he sees a continuous state of unease and unrest in Balochistan. To every Pakistani this question is also very important whether this situation of unease and unrest is genuine in nature or artificially created. Most of the unprejudiced analysts are of the opinion that the only problem of Balochistan is interference of foreign elements. Things would simply come to the normal if foreign forces stop meddling in affairs of Balochistan. This meddling is of different kinds and different types; sometimes it comes out in shape of US’ eagerness of opening a consulate in Quetta and deployment of CIA staff there in guise of the consulate staff and sometimes it is in form of the international pressure on Pakistan to keep a vigilant eye on the so-called Taliban’s Quetta Shura. Moreover, with reference to Balochistan, there are some international organizations which introduce themselves as international NGOs working for the cause of the Human Rights Violations throughout the world but in actual they are the franchisees of different foreign intelligence agencies. A few of these NGOs are based in Balochistan but most of them are based outside Pakistan. Such NGOs never raise any hue and cry against any human rights violation in US or UK or Israel and India and even in the Indian Occupied Kashmir but in case of Balochistan, they always seem over-concerned and over-anxious. The members of these NGOs have their roots in the politicians and statesmen and connections with the parliamentarians of various countries; the countries which are always frightened of Pakistan’s stability. In the name of human rights violations in Balochistan, these NGOs stage demonstrations against the Federation of Pakistan. The activists of these anti-Pakistan NGOs instigate Pakistani nationals living abroad to protest against their own country. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization is also one of such anti-Pakistan organizations. This organization was formed in 1991 with its head quarter in The Hague, Netherlands. The city of The Hague is home to over 150 international organizations including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. And by establishing the head-quarter of any organization in The Hague, it becomes easier for the organizers to increase interaction with the international policy makers and media tycoons. Same is the case with the UNPO. This organization is doing all its best to promote the separatist agenda of those self-claimed Baloch leaders who rarely go to the land they claim they belong to. The fact of the matter is that this organization is simply helping out the RAW, the CIA and other intelligence agencies whose sole objective is the disintegration of Pakistan.

The Miscreants playing in the hands of the foreign forces are using all brutal and inhuman techniques to suppress and frighten the people of Balochistan; to create misunderstandings between the people of Balochistan and the law enforcement agencies of Pakistan. They mercilessly slaughter the innocent people of Balochistan and throw away their deformed dead bodies in deserted areas where wild animals tear these bodies apart. All this is done to add more agony to the already distressed families. And more painful is the fact that the blame of this atrocity is shifted to the Law Enforcement Agencies. The brave people of Balochistan are very well aware of this heinous conspiracy. They are as much devoted, sincere and patriotic as other Pakistanis are and they are not ready to surrender before the brutal designs of the miscreants. The government of Pakistan must realize the painful situation which the people of Balochistan have been facing since long. They really need more care, more attention and more kindness from their government and their fellow countrymen.